1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system, and more specifically, to a computer system with a liquid-cooling thermal module having a plurality of pumps.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the rapid advance of technology, the development speed for electronics such as computers and servers continues to accelerate, especially for the processors thereof. Processors generate more heat when used at higher operational frequencies. For a processor to function at high frequency but in limited volume, heat radiation has become a design bottleneck desperate for a solution.
Although there are many different ways to radiate excess heat, the conventional technology is no longer sufficient to handle the massive amount of heat generated by processors and other components. Therefore, many variations of heat dissipation technology have tried to solve this problem. However, no matter how much the efficiency of the fans of the widely employed air-cooling system is improved, there are still some limitations in solving the heat-generation problem. This is especially true for devices like servers for which computing capability is more rigorously demanded. Traditional fans using air-cooling systems require abundant space for heat dissipation. Such a configuration usually requires an additional power supply for it to work. The noise made by the fans also tends to be annoying in closed workplaces. Additionally, fans generate airflow in computer systems. Because the fans are used to expel the generated heat out of the computers, dust or contaminants may go into the computers with the air intake, which contaminates the electronics, causes damage, accumulates inside, and therefore blocks the air-flow and lowers the efficiency of the cooling. Additionally, expensive industry-used computers are unavoidably exposed to environments harder to cool down and cause pollutions of different types. Hence, the life cycle of these computers is shortened. Therefore, for computer systems required to operate at high frequencies in difficult environments, liquid-cooling systems become a kind of important dissipation module.
Please refer to FIG. 1 showing a block diagram of a liquid-cooling module 12 used in a computer system 10 according to the prior art. The computer system 10 comprises a processor 14, a storage unit 16, and a liquid-cooling module 12. When the computer system 10 is running, internal circuits generate heat, of which the heat generated by the processor 14 is especially influential. Because the internal circuits would be damaged by the heat, the liquid-cooling module 12 is used to rapidly expel the heat. The liquid-cooling module 12 contains a pipe 22, a pump 24, and a tank 26 which contains liquid coolant. The liquid coolant is driven by the pump 24 and continuously cycles from the tank 26 to the pipe 24 (in the direction of arrow A). When flowing through the processor 14, the coolant absorbs and rapidly carries away the heat generated by the processor 14 with its high specific heat to expel the heat from the processor 14.
However, if the pump 24 malfunctions, the coolant will not be able to smoothly cycle through the tank 26 and the pipe 22, and therefore cannot expel the heat from the processor 14. In this situation, the failing of the liquid-cooling module 12 leads to the ruin of the processor 14 and lastly to the break down of the whole computer system 10. Modem operational frequencies of the processor 14 are very high, and the generated heat is quite substantial. Once the liquid-cooling module 12 fails to function, the processor 14 could burn out in just seconds, and the user would not have enough time to respond. How to enhance the structure of the existing liquid-cooling modules to avoid the above situation is a very important topic.